The category of case of English nouns Introduction

Case and its study in Contemporary English

In dealing with the category of case in pronouns, we must bear in mind that they need not in this respect be similar to nouns. Some of them may, and indeed do, have peculiarities which no noun shares.
Some pronouns distinguish between two cases which are best termed nominative and objective (instead of nominative we might also say subjective). These are the following:
Nomin. I he she (it) we (you) they who Obj. me him her (it) us (you) them whom
The two pronouns in brackets, it and you, might have been left out of the list. We have included them because they share many other peculiarities with the pronouns I, he, she, we, and they. No other pronoun, and, indeed, no other word in the language has that kind of case system.
A certain number of pronouns have a different case system, viz. they distinguish between a common and a genitive case, in the same way as the nouns treated above. These are, somebody, anybody, one, another, and a few more.
All other pronouns have no category of case (something, anything, nothing, everything, some, any, no, my, his, etc.; mine, hers, etc.).
The case system in pronouns of the somebody type is identical with that of the nouns of the father type. So we need not go into this question any further.
The case system of the pronouns given on this page, on the other hand, is quite isolated in the language, and requires special investigation.
It is very well known that the form me, which is an objective case form, is not only used in the function of object (direct or indirect), but also as predicative, in sentences like It is me. The sentence It is I, though still possible, is rarely used: it has acquired a kind of archaic flavour as its stylistic peculiarity and has therefore become inappropriate in colloquial speech. However, in the construction it is... who the form I is usual: "It's I who am tiresome" he replied. (FORSTER) As to the other pronouns of this group, the sentences It is him, It is her, It is us, It is them, with the objective case form used as a predicative, do occur, but they seem still to have a somewhat careless or "low colloquial" colouring and they have not superseded the variants It is he, It is she, It is we, It is they. Here is an example: No, I don't suppose it will prove to be them. (FORSTER)
The form me can occasionally be found in the function of subject, provided it does not immediately precede the predicate verb, as in the sentence: That's the law of the state, Ham, and there's nothing me or you can do about it. (E. CALDWELL) The form me could not have been used here if there had not been the second subject you, in the sentence. This confirms the view that stress plays an important part in determining the use of I or me in such conditions. The form her as subject is found, for instance, in the following sentence from a short story by the same author. Lujean's the likable kind. You and her will get along just fine before you know it. (E. CALDWELL) It should be noted, however, that the form her is possible here because it is part of the group you and her, and therefore gets some sentence-stress. If a feminine pronoun were to be the only subject of the sentence, the form would have to be she, no matter what the style of the sentence was.
Opinions on the precise stylistic colouring of such sentences differ to some extent. What seems certain here is that the nominative forms I, he, etc. are being gradually restricted to the function of subject, whereas the objective case forms me, him, etc., are taking over all other functions. This process seems to have gone further with the 1st person singular pronoun than with the others; the reason for this is not yet clear. It is the isolated position of this case system in the language which must be held responsible for the change. The distinction between I, he, she, we, they, on the one hand, and me, him, her, us, them, on the other, is thus changed from a case distinction to one of a different character — that of unstressed and stressed forms of pronouns.
With the pronoun who the development is partly similar and partly different. It is similar in the main point: the case difference between who and whom is quite obviously disappearing. But here it is the original objective case form that is giving way, and it is no longer preserved in any specific syntactic function. Thus, the sentence whom did you see? is being superseded by the variant, who did you see?, and, similarly, who tends to take the place of whom in such sentences as, This is the man who(m) you wanted to see.
Examples of this use are found as early as in Shakespeare, for instance Between who? ("Hamlet"), and also occur in the 18th century, for instance in a novel by Jane Austen in a conversation between educated speakers: But who are you looking for? Are your sisters coming? An example from a modern play: Who were you private secretary to? (TAYLOR)
E. Sapir has devoted several pages of his book on language to a detailed discussion of all factors contributing to the use of who instead of whom in such contexts.¹ Be that as it may, the gradual elimination of the objective form whom is beyond doubt.
Thus the general tendency is clearly towards the disappearance of the opposition between nominative and objective in pronouns.
Case in noun
Case indicates the relations of the noun (or pronoun) to the other words in the sentence.
English nouns denoting living beings (and some nouns denoting lifeless things) have two cases, an uninflected form called the common case and an inflected form called the genitive case.
1. The genitive case is formed by adding -'s (the apostrophe s) to the noun in the singular and only ' (the apostrophe) to plural forms ending in -s.
SINGULAR: a girl's book PLURAL: a girls' school
Note 1. Nouns forming their plural by changing the root vowel take the apostrophe s in the plural.
SINGULAR: a man's hat PLURAL: men's hats
Note 2. Nouns ending in -s form the genitive case in two ways: Dickens' novels, Dickens^`s novels.
The pronunciation of the genitive case ending follows the same rules as the pronunciation of the plural ending:
[iz] after sibilants: prince's, judge's, witch's, etc.
[z] after voiced consonants other than sibilants and after vowels: boy's, man's, king's.
[s] after voiceless consonants other than sibilants: Smith's, count's, bishop's.
Note. With nouns ending in -s and forming the genitive case in two ways (Dickens'novels, Dickens's novels) the ending is pronounced [iz] whether the letter s is written or not.
2. Sometimes the apostrophe s may refer to a whole group of words (the group-genitive): Jane and Mary's room. The last word of the group need not even be a noun: I shall be back in an hour or two's time.
As to its use the genitive case falls under:

1. 
   The Dependent Genitive.
   
2. 
   The Absolute Genitive.
   

The Dependent Genitive is used with the noun it modifies and comes before it.
The Absolute Genitive may be used without any noun or be sepa­rated from the noun it modifies.
A. The Dependent Genitive.
1. The chief meaning of the genitive case is that of possession:
... a young man and a girl came out of the solicitor's office.